27 June 2012

The Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, finished a two day visit to Northern Ireland. Engagements included an historic handshake with former IRA leader and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

Making nice with the faction that ordered the assassination of one's family member, confidante and friend...what to wear, what to wear. It's not for nothing that the sunflower is seen by some as a symbol of peace.

Sometimes referred to as the Gold Dahlia Brooch, the Frosted Sunflower Brooch was made for the Queen by Garrard. It features petals made from 18 carat gold with a diamond center and diamonds studded on the petals.

This brooch is a favorite of the Queen. Like others commissioned by her or given by family and friends, it has an all-purpose design (as opposed to something specific to a region or organization) which makes it easy to wear, not to mention suited to her personal taste.

26 June 2012

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh today commenced a visit to Northern Ireland in celebration of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee. Her Majesty and His Royal Highness attended a Service of Thanksgiving in St. Macartin's Cathedral, Enniskillen, and afterwards met families of the victims of the 1987 Enniskillen Bombing.
The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh subsequently visited St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church and South West Acute Hospital.

Tell me something...doesn't this hat ornamentation look like the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara? Atta girl, Lil, show those protestors who wears the tiara around these parts. A short second to my hat distraction is the Shamrock Brooch, which I don't recall seeing before but doesn't surprise me at all. She really does have a gem for every occasion.

A brooch of three shamrocks in diamonds with an emerald tie appeared during The Queen's 2012 visit to Northern Ireland. The Shamrock Brooch doesn't seem to have a known history at this time, though the motif makes a gift from a group associated with Northern Ireland a possible guess, and the late appearance makes a recent gift or something unearthed from The Queen Mother's collection another possible guess. Another possibility is that it belongs to a set of four brooches given to The Queen by The Sultan of Oman (see the Three Thistle Brooch entry for more details), but these are all only speculation. The Queen certainly seems to be running with the shamrock motif, though, sporting it in Northern Ireland and for an Irish engagement at home.

These twin brooches were a gift from Queen Elizabeth’s parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, for her 18th birthday in 1944. Done in the clip style popularized by Cartier, they are an Art Deco arrangement of aquamarines and diamonds. Though they are often called the Aquamarine Cartier Clips (they are identified as such in Leslie Field’s The Queen’s Jewels, where the connection is drawn to Louis Cartier’s adaptation of wooden clothes pins), according to the Royal Collection they were made by Boucheron.

Though these clips offer many configuration possibilities (including using them as one large oval brooch, as seen on the left above), the Queen usually sticks to wearing both of them upright, in a staggered fashion.

23 June 2012

The Queen, with The Duke of Edinburgh, honored Ascot Races with her presence today.

Clearly bored with Ascot 2012, Betty rolled up in a housecoat with the Flame Lily Brooch attached. I say boo, I wanted the Australian Wattle Brooch or something in honor of Black Caviar, the racing star of the day.

Often called the Rhodesian Flame Lily Brooch, the Flame Lily was given to the Queen as a 21st birthday gift from the children of Rhodesia. Both Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother later received identical brooches; the Queen has inherited her mother's, and we won't make an attempt to differentiate here. Read more at Order of Splendor.

This brooch is often identified as one given to the Queen when she opened the Queen's Bridge in Perth, Scotland in 1960, but this is incorrect. The association is based on a description in Leslie Field’s book The Queen’s Jewels which reads as follows:

The brooch is a miniature flower bouquet with seven amethyst buds surrounded by white and yellow gold ferns and grasses, with a central group of twelve freshwater mauve-tinted pearls from the River Tay.

Though we do have seven amethysts present, the rest of the description doesn't fit and this is not a pearl brooch; the Perth bridge brooch is a separate piece (this one!). Where this particular brooch, a bouquet of seven amethysts centering flowers with diamond petals and stems, came from is unclear. The amethysts appear to be set in yellow gold, with perhaps a white metal for the diamond settings.

This brooch seems to have grown in popularity in the past few years. Unsurprisingly, when she does wear it, it is usually on a purple outfit.

21 June 2012

The Queen, with The Duke of Edinburgh, honored Ascot Races with her presence today.

Whipping up a surprise for Ladies’ Day at Ascot, Liz showed up minty fresh and feathery with the Teck Corsage Brooch (a.k.a. the Duchess of Teck’s Emperor of Austria Brooch), minus the dangling string of diamonds and pearls.

Composed of a central large pearl surrounded by braided rows of diamonds with twelve collets around the exterior and a removable pendant chain of collets with three pendant pearls, this brooch is popularly known as the Teck Corsage Brooch. The newest publication on the Queen’s jewels, Hugh Roberts’ The Queen’s Diamonds, elaborates on this jewel and gives it a different name: The Duchess of Teck’s Emperor of Austria Brooch.

Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck

It was given to the Duchess of Teck, mother of Queen Mary, by the Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria when he was named godfather of her son Prince Francis. It later ended up in Queen Mary's collection (after likely being inherited by her brother Francis and then probably by his mistress after his untimely death) and passed to the Queen when Mary died in 1953.

Queen Elizabeth II

This brooch seems to have been more popular with the Queen in her younger years. When it appeared during the 2011 state visit from the United States, it hadn't been seen in some years. The Queen then used it in its simpler form, without the chain, at Ascot in 2012.

A painted pink Queen Elizabeth rose sits in a frame containing 100 diamonds in this brooch commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II for her mother, Queen Elizabeth, as a 100th birthday gift. It now belongs to Queen Elizabeth II. Read more at Order of Splendor.

This bracelet of diamond plaques accented with rubies can be spotted accenting the other ruby jewelry in the Queen's jewel vault on formal occasions. It is described by Leslie Field in The Queen's Jewels as a "wide Art Deco diamond bracelet...formed of eight oblong plaques studded with small rubies."

The Queen wearing her Collar with the Marlborough Great George suspended from the center

The Collar of the Most Noble Order of the Garter is a chain of pure gold. The chain is composed of enamel plaques depicting the famous blue garter with the Order's motto, Honi soit qui mal y pense ("Shame on he who thinks ill of it"), surrounding a rose which are separated by gold knots. Different Collars may have slightly varying forms of the plaques and knots. The Collar is worn draped over the shoulders.

Suspended from the Collar in the front is the Great George, a figurine depicting St. George slaying a dragon from atop his horse. As you might suspect, Garter insignia also includes a Lesser George, which is a badge worn at the hip on the famous blue sash.

The Marlborough Great George

All Great Georges are not the same; some are enamelled, others are bejeweled. The Queen usually wears the Marlborough Great George, which she wore for the Coronation in 1953 and which is covered in diamonds, enamel, and gold. It was made for George IV and was copied from a Great George worn by the 1st Duke of Marlborough, hence the name. Click here for a look at it on the Royal Collection's website.

On Garter Day (left) and the State Opening of Parliament (right)

Excluding portrait sittings, the Collar and Great George are worn for the annual Garter Day service at St. George's Chapel at Windsor
Castle in mid-June (over the Mantle), and for the State Opening of Parliament. It can also be worn on the most formal of occasions with a military uniform.

Worn with the Burmese Ruby Tiara and the center brooch of the Diamond Cockade

Queen Victoria bought from Garrard in 1854 a magnificent necklace of opals surrounded by diamonds with a matching pendant, drop earrings, and a brooch, which she later left to the Crown. No fan of opals, Queen Alexandra had the earrings and necklace switched for stunning large rubies, likely Burmese and given to Queen Victoria by rulers from India and surrounding areas. She did the same for the tiara that the pieces had been purchased to accompany, the Oriental Circlet. Though they weren't rubies in Victoria's time, I have chosen to use the name "Queen Victoria's Crown Rubies" to differentiate these from other rubies that have been left to the Crown.

Worn by the Queen Mother with the Oriental Circlet and a diamond and ruby flower brooch

The set passed from queen to queen until it landed in the hands of Queen Elizabeth, the future Queen Mother. The Oriental Circlet became one of her favorite tiaras (one of only two she wore in her later years, in fact), and with it she often wore the Crown Rubies. She kept them until her death in 2002, at which point they came into The Queen's possession. The Queen has used them sparingly, continuing to use the ruby jewels she had before her mother passed away.

One of the most distinctive pieces of the wardrobe of the Most Noble Order of the Garter - England's highest chivalric order - is the Mantle, sometimes referred to as a robe, cloak, or cape. The Mantle has been used in one form or another, with varying fabrics and colors, since the 15th century. The current version is made of dark blue velvet lined with white taffeta and is accented by a red velvet hood (also lined with white taffeta), elaborate cords for closure, and white ribbons at the shoulders. The Garter Collar, with the Great George as a pendant, is draped over the Mantle across the shoulders.

The Garter Star on the Queen's Mantle

The Queen, as Sovereign of the Order, has a fancier Mantle than the rest
of the members: hers has the longest train, which requires two Pages of
Honour to manage, and a Garter Star. The rest of the members wear a Mantle with a sewn on patch depicting the heraldic shield of St. George's Cross encircled by the famous blue garter which bears the Order's motto, Honi soit qui mal y pense ("Shame on he who thinks ill of it"). The Queen's Mantle has a bejeweled Garter Star of metal.

The Bonnet

The Knights and Ladies of the Garter also wear a distinctive hat, a Tudor bonnet made of black velvet with a plume of white ostrich and black heron feathers and an ornament depicting St. George's shield surrounded by the garter with the Order motto written on it.

Excluding portrait sittings, the mantle and bonnet are worn only for highly ceremonial occasions, such as the annual Garter Day service at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in June.

16 June 2012

Her Majesty, accompanied by members of the Royal Family, was present at The Queen's Birthday Parade on Horse Guards Parade at which The Queen's Colour of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards was trooped.

It’s one’s official birthday, and one will brooch it up if one wants too…
Every year, never fails: the Guards’ Badge comes out to play.

Created originally for Queen Mary, this regimental brooch, also called the Guards' Badge, combines the symbols of the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards, the Welsh Guards, the Irish Guards, and the Scots Guards. The Queen wears it every year for the Trooping the Colour ceremony. Read more at Order of Splendor.

Not much is known about this piece; it features six diamond flowers blossoming off a central stem. Each flower has a golden center.

It seems to be a fairly recent addition, possibly first appearing during a visit to Northern Ireland in 2009 and has been said to be a private gift for The Queen's diamond wedding anniversary in 2007 (as detailed in the comments). The appearance in 2010 in Oman seems a bit of an outlier in comparison with other appearances, as it was worn with an evening dress and rubies; as suggested by Jelena in the comments, one theory is the brooch could have come from The Sultan of Oman. The Three Thistle Brooch was confirmed to be part of a set of four pins from The Sultan, and I can't help but notice the common golden and diamond design characteristics, though the Three Thistle did not appear until a few years later (see that entry for more details). Nothing has been confirmed, and that is all mere speculation.